The NRA says the citizenry needs to be armed with rapid fire
weapons because of "bad guys" like felon William Spengler who lured
fire fighters to their deaths in Webster, NY before killing himself. In addition to his .223-caliber
Bushmaster rifle--the same weapon used at Sandy Hook--the shooter was armed
with an arsenal which included a .38-caliber revolver and a 12-gauge shotgun
like so many gun extremists. A similar "bad guy" in Pittsburgh armed
with a semi-automatic AK-47-style rifle, a shotgun, a .357 Magnum
revolver, .380-caliber handgun and
.45-caliber handgun, killed five policemen in 2009. Bad guys have also killed policemen in Oakland and Miami.

Paranoids dictating national firearm policy by Martha Rosenberg

But under the public's radar, the NRA actually defends the
rights of such "bad guys" to own firearms. After the S un Sentinel reported concealed weapon licenses issued to 1,400
probable felons (including a man who shot his girlfriend as she cooked
breakfast, a pizza deliveryman wanted for fatally shooting a 15-year-old over a
stolen order of chicken wings and six registered sex offenders), NRA lobbyist
Marion P. Hammer said, "When you begin taking away the rights of people
that you don't like, that's the slippery slope." What?

Lest someone go unarmed just because they are a violent
criminal, the NRA got a program passed to help people whose gun purchasing
rights were revoked petition for them to be restored as part of a provision for states to share more
illegal firearm information with the federal government. And the gun lobby has
managed to get "Tiahrt restrictions" on the books that literally
obstruct prosecution of criminals with illegal guns by restricting law
enforcement officials from fully accessing and using Bureau of Alcohol,
Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) gun trace data, which can show where
illegal guns come from, who buys them and how they get trafficked across state
lines and into our communities. Let's stop those bad guys!

Three years ago in Connecticut, where the Sandy Hook first
graders were killed this month, the gun lobby defeated a
"microstamping" bill that would require new markers on guns to make
them easier to trace. Gun makers routinely tell state officials if gun
legislation is passed, they'll move their operations to another state, taking
the jobs with them. Are they including the jobs they create in emergency rooms,
operating rooms, hospitals, rehabilitation facilities and morgues?

Recently a gun extremist who doesn't want to go anywhere
without his concealed companion said people who are threatened by a mass
shootings "would want me there." No matter how quickly law
enforcement officials arrive at shootings, gun extremist always believe they,
not law enforcement officials, should be the real order keepers. Many hold law
enforcement officials in as much contempt as the bad guys.

Yet none of these self proclaimed deputies stopped Jared Lee
Loughner's Tucson rampage despite all of Arizona's conceal and carriers.
Loughner killed six people, including a U.S. district court judge and almost
killed former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz). Nor did an armed guard stop the
Columbine deaths. In fact there are few and possibly no published reports of these
George Zimmerman-style "deputies" saving lives or even stopping
violence. Worse, with their hatred of law enforcement officials, arsenals and
vehemence against gun laws, many of these "deputies" look a lot like
the bad guys they warn us about.

END

Martha Rosenberg is an award-winning investigative public health reporter who covers the food, drug and gun industries. Her first book, Born With A Junk Food Deficiency: How Flaks, Quacks and Hacks Pimp The Public Health, is distributed by Random (more...)